Lessons From History Presentation

HIS-FPX1100

Historical Sources Analysis

Latoya Wilson

Capella University

03/17/2023

Step 1: KNOWLEDGE

Facing economic change is an issue that has affected Americans in the recent times and also in the past. Many of those impacted by these changes, can speak to the challenges they were exposed to when the economy started to change. The challenges, in most cases, have long-term effects that compromise the quality of lifestyle of many. From the selected primary and secondary sources, the main argument or problem that needs to be solved is how to mitigate economic crisis in the case a country is faced by a scenario that can cause the crisis. The main question that should help in addressing the argument is how economic change affects a country. In order to gather a deeper understanding, the questions that should be addressed are the following:

· What is economic crisis and how does it affect the general public?

· What are possible and practical economic actions that can help maintain and stabilize the economy?

Step 2: COMPREHENSION

Economic social change is a major historical issue that has affected a high number of people. It is a fact that no single person can be shielded from economic hardships whenever inflation is happening. However, from the sources available, it is evident that when a country accepts discrimination, the victims tend to suffer more than the majority race. At the same time, the decisions political leaders tend to make during an economic crisis, whether positive or negative, always extends to general population. Information from the historical books provide important information that helps with the understanding of economic challenges, scenarios, and how to handle them best, even in the current times.

United States has suffered a number of economic crises including The Great Depression and the recent COVID-19 pandemic, where millions of people lost their gainful employment. For instance, during The Great Depression, many people from African American backgrounds were forced to abandon their homes in search of greener pastures. Discrimination played a major role in many people losing their lives from lack of nourishment and other life related stresses, due to the lack access to employment opportunities. Nevertheless, the decisions that the government made to start improving the economy, attracted those that had immigrated back to their homes. The elimination of discrimination also granted all people equal chances to access employment, increasing the number of people contributing to the economy through tax emittance. It is a good thing that from primary and secondary sources available; almost all information necessary is available.

Step 3: APPLICATION

There is a diverse number of sources falling under primary and secondary categories that possess information regarding the social economic change historical issue. The good thing is the information in all the sources bears similarities and this is one thing that makes the sources reliable and considered valid. Despite some sources being older than others, the information is the same and more interestingly shared from different people’s perspective. It is evident the information is shared by people who were going through similar challenges and were present when the government handled the crisis.

Step 4: ANALYZE

The sources from an analyzing perspective have both strong and weak points since the arguments raised by different authors do not weigh the same amount on readers. A major strong piece of evidence is how the African Americans could relocate from southern to northern cities where they felt more appreciated and could access jobs. It is also a string point of the number of people that suffered long-term challenges while at the south from harsh economic times. The presented weak evidence is that Americans are going through hardshis as a result of covid-19 without necessarily clarifying the specific challenges. Leaving the argument general, leaves little impact on the audience. Nevertheless, using this piece of evidence to make an argument on the issue would have a challenge in terms of proving the number of people affected and the specific ways they were affected and or impacted.

Step 5: SYNTHESIS

Economic crisis is the act of having an unstable economy as a result of compromised currency flow leading to reducing purchase ability. Whenever a country is going through an economic crisis, it means that its people do not have the ample amount of money to sustain their lifestyles and the situation triggers an increase in cost of goods and services while people have limited amount of money for their spending. The people are affected because employers tend to downsize the workforce to cut cost of production as efforts to save their enterprises. Additionally, from low financial circulation, people suffer from hunger and basic things, making life harder and sometimes unbearable.

Economic crisis comes with a lot of challenges, but the good thing is that there are possible and practical economic actions that can help to maintain and stabilize the economy. First, the government requires reviewing its budget on public spending so that it can reduce the amount of tax being levied on basic goods and services, thereby maintaining cost of living at manageable levels. Secondly, the government can offer low interest loans to SME’s as they play a major role in increasing the employment rate within a country while paying taxes. Thirdly is by encouraging foreign investors by giving them a conducive business environment so that they can pay taxes, promote import and export, and also hire a high number of locals.

References

Facing History and Ourselves. (n.d.). Firsthand accounts of the Great Depression. https://www.facinghistory.org/mockingbird/firsthand-accounts-great-depression

Gates, Jr., H. L. (2013). Madam Walker, the first black American woman to be a self-made millionaire. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/madam-walker-the-first-black-american-woman-to-be-a-self-made-millionaire/

History Matters. (n.d.). “Sir I will thank you with all my heart": Seven letters from the Great Migration. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5332/

Mauldin, J. (2018). The 2020s might be the worst decade in U.S. history. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2018/05/24/the-2020s-might-be-the-worst-decade-in-u-s-history/#4edfb05e48d3

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